Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 8 July 2004
293 Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if his attention has been drawn to the fact that a person (details supplied) in County Westmeath, was issued with a taxi licence; if he will review the granting of a taxi licence in this case in order to determine whether the carriage officer’s vetting system is sufficient to protect members of the public. [21128/04]
View answerThe matter raised by the Deputy is an operational matter for the Garda Síochána in which I have no direct role. However, I am informed by the Garda authorities that the individual in question first applied for a small PSV driver's licence in 1997. The applicant's previous convictions came to light in the course of processing of his application. The applicant was then interviewed separately regarding these offences by two Garda officers in the Carriage Office during the processing of the application. As the offences had occurred some 20 years previously and no further convictions were recorded in the interim period, the then authorised officer took these facts into consideration when making the decision to issue the taxi licence.
Following the criminal case referred to by the Deputy, the authorised officer served notice on the person concerned giving effect to the revocation of his taxi licence.
